Learning practical Xitsonga in higher education: Experiences of non-Xitsonga-speaking students at a South African university of technology

Xitsonga is one of South Africa’s 12 official languages and plays an important role in advancing the country’s multilingualism agenda and the intellectualisation of indigenous African languages. However, relatively little research has explored the experiences of students who learn Xitsonga as a second language at university level, particularly within universities of technology. This article examines the linguistic, pedagogical and institutional challenges experienced by non-Xitsonga-speaking students enrolled in a Practical Xitsonga module at a South African university of technology. The study employed a pragmatic mixed-methods approach to provide a comprehensive understanding of students’ learning experiences. A census sample of 25 third-year students participated by completing structured questionnaires with both closed and open-ended questions, alongside a classroom-based reading assessment. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in IBM SPSS Statistics Version 29, while qualitative responses were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis. The findings indicate that although most participants (76%) demonstrated good to excellent reading proficiency, nearly one-quarter (24%) experienced fair to poor reading performance, suggesting that significant learning challenges remain. Students reported pronunciation difficulties, limited vocabulary, grammatical complexity, reduced reading fluency and low confidence in speaking Xitsonga as the main linguistic barriers. They also highlighted limited opportunities to interact with native Xitsonga speakers, a shortage of technology-supported learning resources, insufficient opportunities for authentic language practice and inadequate institutional support as factors that hindered their language development. Conversely, collaborative learning, lecturer guidance, peer support and greater exposure to authentic language environments were found to strengthen students’ confidence and communicative competence. By bringing together socio-constructivist, linguistic and institutional perspectives, the article identifies context-specific barriers and proposes practical pedagogical strategies to improve second- language learning in indigenous African languages. The findings offer valuable recommendations for multilingual higher education policy, curriculum design, lecturer professional development and the effective integration of digital technologies to support African language teaching and learning.